David,

Your last paragraph here suggests that you feel you may have erred in your assumption. As others have said, what else are people supposed to use as a yardstick?

So *you* aren't particularly enamoured with "classroom environment" and chose a different path. You can bet that most who attend are also not that happy with a classroom environment. But they stuck it out. Sometimes life demands such 'sacrifices'.
Your choice to rationalize your way out of something you didn't like could well be taken as an indication that you cannot stick through things when they get uncomfortable. They could be taken as indicating a very self-centered individual.

Certainly your implied assertion that your approximately 4 years of programming makes you ready for whatever amy come along is a tad presumptious. It could be right if you had 10+ years, but 4 years doesn't truly cut it.

You've made your bed - no one else, so don't blame others if things don't work out exactly as you wish. SOlve the problems and move along.

Jim N

>Well Nancy,
>
>At the risk of making a touchy subject a little more touchy. I want to extend my thoughts regarding this issue a bit further. First, I don't have anything against those who seek a formal education. What I don't like is the people who don't recognize that true education goes well beyond the classroom. True education is experiencing things first hand. I don't care if it's the high tech world or farm work. Doing is the best educator.
>
>Personally, I don’t care much for the class room environment. I’m more of a hands on type of person. Back in the early 1990's, I completed all the computer programming courses that were available in the college that I was attending. I decided to continue my programming studies privately and apply what I had already learned to the real world.
>I still believe that I furthered my programming skills with this approach more than if I had continued with the various liberal art, business and elective courses that would’ve led me to my degree. This well rounded concept that the educators try to make you swallow, does not cut it for me. Forcing you to take courses that does not directly improve you in your chosen field is just a revenue scheme that the colleges have mustered up. Also, I think there is this prestige attached to higher education that really doesn’t have anything to do with you becoming better skilled. I knew some people in college that tried to make a life time career out of continuing in higher education just to make themselves feel superior to everyone else.
>Now, I know my choice was my own. But, I really thought that there were enough employers out there that were more interested in what you could do for their company on a proven level than on what you say you can do through a document called a degree. Thanks for listening!
>
>Dave